The first show consisted of a mixture of different subjects. The humor then began to take an expected turn; potty humor, references to homosexuality and politically incorrect jokes about Down Syndrome and AIDS.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sox whispering continues....

"All indications are that the Sox are closing in on a deal with Greater Media-owned WBOS-FM (92.9) that would put game broadcasts on that station. That would be a major blow to Entercom’s WEEI-AM (850), the team’s current radio partner.

Meanwhile, the industry was abuzz with rumors about future WBOS programming. Some believe it could be an all-Red Sox station."

And the one line I LOVE in the article is this:

"Higher up the AM dial, 1510 The Zone (WWZN) operates mostly in obscurity."

Red Sox move to FM still in play...?

Others seen yapping up the owners: Greater Media man Peter Smyth who hopes to wrestle the Sox broadcast rights away from WEEI. But more on that later.

Airwave angst

Imagine WEEI chief Julie Kahn’s surprise to hear that Greater Media main man Peter Smyth, her rival in the sweepstakes for the Red Sox radio rights, was passing the time yesterday in the team owners’ suite at Fenway.

You see, the Sox reportedly are partial to playing ball with Smyth because he’s offered them a 25 percent ownership stake in one of his stations, namely WBOS. WEEI, which is owned by Entercom, doesn’t have an equity position on the table.

“It’s all about control,” an ’EEI biggie told us yesterday. “Larry (Lucchino) doesn’t want to listen to the station trashing the Sox, like with the Theo situation. He wants to control the talk.”

Not to be out-played or out-schmoozed, Julie slipped from her own suite full of guests yesterday to pay a call on the owners.

“I just missed Peter by five minutes,” she told us, with her eyes twinkling. “But I saw Larry.”

"WBZ General Manager Ted Jordan says allowing LaPierre to broadcast the news from his home in St. Augustine, Fla., for about six weeks a year was a small price to pay to keep the anchor on the air. "

Hmmmm....even with the bad press Ted?

"As LaPierre prepares to step down, Jordan is planning to beef up WBZ’s reporting staff. The GM says he’d like to add more people and do more investigative reporting.

“It’s almost as though I feel like a basketball team that lost a great center,” Jordan said. “You just don’t go out and get another great center. So I’m going to get me a couple of great shooting guards"'.

When listening in recent years, it always seemed to me in recent years WBZ has been cutting staff left and right. When listening, I always got the impression that the staff was pretty lean.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Not to be upstaged by Katie Couric.....

"After more than 4 decades at WBZ NEWSRADIO 1030, Gary LaPierre on Wednesday announced his retirement. He explained the time is right. "I still love what I'm doing but there comes a point in your life when you say, 'Ok you've done that long enough'..I'd like to try some other things." Gary has not decided on his future plans. He will continue to anchor the WBZ Morning News until the end of the year.

Gary began his broadcasting career in 1964, when he reported on The Beatles first visit to Boston. He has covered a number of presidential campaigns and conventions. Gary was also the lead anchor for WBZ's continuous coverage of the 911 attacks."